


The Black Spider

by SilverServerError



Series: Elf Practice [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Brad loves his job, Brian likes feeling tall, First Meeting, M/M, The new guy is hot, establishing dominance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 02:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13180110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverServerError/pseuds/SilverServerError
Summary: Brad pays a visit to one of their newer members. Brian makes a few things clear.





	The Black Spider

 

This was by and large, the happiest Brad had ever been. Clipboard in hand. Ticks in a neat row down his to-do list. He spent his days supporting capable and receptive staff. He had a vision board in his office. Someone had paid him actual GP to make a vision board for himself.

The bureau… It was bigger. Important. Something more than clan fights and fathers disappointed in their own short sightedness.

It was what he’d needed. Wanted. Was still somewhat in shock to have.

So it was with a soul deep satisfaction and contentment that he raised a hand, knocking gently three times on the door.

“Come in, come in!”

He raised an eyebrow, but did as he was bidden.

“The Black Spider?” he asked politely, ducking slightly and angling his shoulders to fit through the door.

Brian’s rooms were... Well, he was the lead reclaimer at the moment. Of course he had a nice suite in the dormitories. But the staircase, the balcony… Even knowing how valuable of an asset he was, Brad was a little taken aback the director had signed off on something so extravagant.

The rooms came fairly barebones, but he could see Brian was already settling himself in. He’d found a way to dim their electric lights, covered his walls in arcane tapestries, and most striking was probably the strands of web carefully strewn across the open air between the floors. The network seemed to converge in the center, almost like a faintly glowing nest.

“One moment, just finishing up on somezing.”

Brad’s gaze followed the voice up to the balcony, then watched a little transfixed as Brian appeared at the top of the staircase. His long white hair was loose around his shoulders. A dark robe casually draped over something tight and thin that he would have expected in athletics training, not during sorcery study. He couldn't help but be distracted by the way a long, dark leg kept escaping the slit of barely closed fabric every other step.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” Brad smiled.

Brian smiled back, stopping on the stairs about halfway down, just enough to still be the taller of the two. “Don’t be silly,” he said with a coy smile, leaning against the wall and crossing his legs at the ankle. “You wouldn’t be standing right now if you had tried that.”

Brad laughed softly.

“What can I do for you?” Brian asked, friendly and casual as he pulled out a cigarette on a long holder, then lit it with a match.

Brad frowned fondly as he watched the smoke curl around him before dissipating into the room. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised. It was still a common habit in The Underdark. “Bureau policy is that the dorms are non-smoking,” he reminded Brian in that same professional tone.

Brian merely smiled, inhaling deeply, then turned his head and pursed his lips. With an unhurried laziness, he blew the smoke out in a stream until his lungs were completely empty. “Maybe you have not worked with me before, hmm?” He grinned, and Brad sucked in a breath despite himself. “I am what zey call a ‘bad boy’.” Brian winked before pushing off the wall once more.

Brad swallowed.

Instead of coming closer, Brian stepped to the edge of the stair. He grabbed one of the web ropes and with a practiced movement, slipped his foot into a loop at the end. He let his weight into it, and instead of pulling it down, it slowly bounced, carrying Brian up into the network.

Brad was getting more and more used to the strange habits and casual competences of spending time around such high level spell casters. But this-

Well.

Brian picked his way to what was almost a sling he could sit in, resting on one hip as the opposite foot and the edges of the robe trailed beneath him. He was near enough to rest the holder in the nest, cigarette still burning almost like an incense. “So, going to tell on me?”

Brad flushed, then looked down at his clipboard to focus. “I’m here on other business,” he began, quickly regaining his professionalism. “The director is starting a new policy. All members of staff are going to be equipped with a bracer.” He held his own up and taped it in example.

Brian moved so quickly Brad took half a step back. One moment he was sitting in the loop. The next he’d liquidly slid down two connecting strands to land at a crux near him, an arm up and back as he held himself just over the bracer, examining it with a cocked head. “And what does it do?” he asked curiously, the accent pulling the w almost entirely into a v.

“Well, a few things, but mostly location services for easier pickups.”

Brian narrowed his eyes distrustfully, looking first at the bracer, then at Brad himself. A curtain of silver-white hair shifted over his shoulder, and Brad forced himself not to watch it.

“It’s a tracking device?”

“It’s not _just_ a tracking device, but that is one of the features, yes.”

Brian reached out, tracing the bureau insignia as he concentrated, checking the item’s arcana. Brad couldn’t help but be a little entranced by the dark, thin fingers and how they contrasted so nicely with the metallic shine. They weren't even touching, but he felt the goosebumps rise all down his arm under the cotton of his business shirt.

Then Brian pulled away with a friendly smile. “No zank you.”

Brad almost stumbled back, surprised at the speed with which he was climbing back up towards the ceiling. “It’s not-”

He fell silent as Brian paused to look back at him over a shoulder.

“The Black Spider-”

“‘Brian’, please.”

“Brian,” he tried again. “It’s not optional. Everyone in the bureau is getting fitted with one.”

Brian said nothing. Brad felt a sudden tension in the room. Slowly… Brian started crawling back down to him.

“What is your name?” he asked politely.

There was a look in those pale pink-violet eyes. He tried to stand his ground. “Brad. Brad Bradson.”

“I see,” Brian nodded, looking him over in a way that was arousing Brad’s fight or flight instincts. A very, very rare occurrence for an office orc like himself. “And you like it here? In the bureau?”

“Yes.”

“You get along with everyone? You’re a real ‘team player’?” Brad just looked up at him with a little apprehension. “You do as you’re told?”

Faster than Brad could track it, a hand reached out, grabbing his tie and pulling him off balance. He stumbled a clumsy a recovery, dropping his clipboard with a noisy clatter, pulled face to face with Brian.

He wasn’t used to looking up at anyone. He certainly wasn’t used to looking up at an elf.

“Zat is not how it’s going to work wiz me, understood?”

Brad swallowed. There was a strong thread of fear. No question. But somewhat shamefully, it was not at all the first and most pressing sensation that the action inspired in him.

Brian eyed him, collected and unquestionably in control. “Zer are people like you zat take orders. And people like me zat give zem.” He frowned. “Don’t make zis mistake again.”

“Understood,” Brad all but gasped, his voice low and breathless in such an incriminating way.

Brian raised an eyebrow, then smiled just enough for his fangs to show. For a moment they were frozen there.

Then at last, Brian’s expression softened and he pulled away. Brad reached up, half in a daze, to loosen his tie to something that wasn’t just this side of choking him.

“Was zer anyzing else?” Brian’s voice was light and cheerful again.

“I- No?”

“Please don’t forget your clipboard on ze way out.”

Brad looked down at it, then after a moment of hesitation bent to pick it up. ‘Brief The Black Spider on the new bracer policy.’ After a moment of conflict that he wore plainly across his face, he reached for the pen in his pocket and checked the box next to it. He had _technically_ completed his task, right?

Right.

His gaze tracked down to the next line.

“Brian?”

“Yes, dear?”

He tried not to think about the warm feeling the word gave him. “There’s a company potluck next Tuesday. Can I sign you up?”

Brian looked down at him, every inch the polite, excitable man he was used to seeing from afar. “Oh! How delightful. Absolutely.”

Brad smiled slightly. “And what can I say you’re bringing?”

“Are we allowed to bring alcohol?”

A wonderful suspicion began building in his stomach. “Yes.”

“Zen I’ll bring somezing from home I zink you’ll all like,” Brian decided, clever eyes narrowed. “But why are you looking at me like zat?”

“Nothing,” Brad said with a grin. “Have a nice day, Brian.”

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
